Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 3.4% in October from 3.5% in September, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Employment rose by 32,200 people on a seasonally adjusted basis in October while the number of unemployed fell by 20,600, which pushed the unemployment rate down.

Total employment in Australia was at more than 13.6 million in October, according to the ABS.

Seasonally adjusted, monthly hours worked increased by 2.3%, stronger than the growth in employment, which was 0.2%. This stronger growth in hours partly reflected fewer employed people than usual taking leave during October.

“The number of people who worked fewer hours because they were on annual leave increased between September and October, consistent with school holidays and public holidays,” said Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS. “However, the number of people on annual leave in October 2022 was around 10% less than we typically see at this time of the year.”

Some of this difference may reflect people who would normally have taken annual leave being sick instead, with around 30% more people than usual working reduced hours in October due to sickness.

“While the number of people working fewer hours due to sickness was around a third higher than we’d usually see in October, it was no longer two-to-three times higher, as it was earlier in 2022,” Jarvis said.

Flood events across New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania also saw more people working reduced hours due to bad weather, increasing to 100,000 in October from 66,000 in September.